problems with orbs and abilities

[Udeis]

Here is a somewhat complicated one. I tried looking around the forum a bit, but I didnt see anything quite like this, so hopefully this isnt a repost

I am trying to make an ability that works like a lightning orb in that it adds the orb effect to the caster, has a chance to purge the target, and does a small bit of bonus damage. However, i want the ability to be invisible (the unit already has too many, and this is kindof a side ability), so obviously it will be tied to the attack, cost no mana, and not be a generic autocast (like searing arrow, etc.

I have already figured out (in general) how to make abilities invisible (using some spell book tricks), but no matter what I do, I can't quite get it to work for one reason or another. a huge part of the problem comes from the fact that when you use the lightning orb (or any item orb) ability as a base, whatever happens to be in the "data - effect ability" category still appears (though shaded) in the unit's ability section of the UI, even if you use the dummy spell book trick. an additional complication is that the ability needs to be dependent on the existence of another unit type in game (a tech-tree dependency ie, in order for unit type A to cast ability X, there must be at least one unit type B in play).

Ive been trying to get this to work for several hours now and its driving me insane. Any help anyone could offer would be amazing. Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Dr Super Good]

Upgrade the damage via some other means.
Only give the unit the orb ability if he should be able to cast the spell (use triggers to control this).

 

[Slayer14]

OK, so your having problems getting the ability to not show up? I've read what you had to say about Spell Book abilities and I understand why that would not work. However, I've been using WE for a long time now, and I might know something that could work.

Try setting the orb's "Effect Ability" to button position (0,2).

(Button Position Normal (X) - 0
Button Position Normal (Y) - 2)

Then add the orb ability to the unit and move it all the way down to the bottom of the abilities list, with all of the other abilities on the list too. (So then, according to what you said, you would have too many abilities for the game to show.)


I'm not positive, but that just might work and the orb ability should not show on that unit anymore. Give it a try and let me know what happens.

 

[Adiktuz]

you can customize the chain lightning, just use a trigger which runs when the unit attacks, check if there exists unit B, then if you need a chance, just add it, then if all conditions are true, create a dummy caster at the position of the unit, add the purge to it, and then order it to purge the attacked unit...

 

[Udeis]

thanks for the help!

ive already tried messing around with triggers, and frankly, im not very good with them, so I gave up. I tried slayer 14's suggestion, and it worked well enough. It still appeared, but it covered up a hero attribute bonus icon, so it wasnt a big deal. especially since im not really planning on releasing this map, it should be good enough for my friends and me. Thanks again!